One in three dollars of telecommunications in A.Latina is for taxes

The added value of the Telecommunications sector in Latin America exceeds 68,000 million dollars and is the most taxed in the continent, which makes it allocate almost one in three dollars to the public coffers, according to a report released today by the Center for Latin American Studies (Cet.la).

Montevideo, Nov 9 (EFE) .- The added value of the Telecommunications sector in Latin America exceeds 68,000 million dollars and is the most taxed in the continent, which makes allocate almost one in three dollars to the public coffers, according to a report released today by the Center for Latin American Studies (Cet.la).

The study, published together with CAF -Banco de Development of Latin America, revealed that the telecommunications sector generates some 600,000 direct jobs in the continent and that the added value exceeds the internal product annual gross (GDP) of Uruguay.

However, the report indicates that the sector is the most taxed in Latin America, that is, it has 51% more taxes than the average of the rest of the industries and, therefore, almost one in three dollars of the generated are allocated to the State.

On the other hand, of the 68,000 million value added 43% is invested in infrastructure and in the deployment of new networks.

The objective of the Cet.la study, which is based in Montevideo, was to analyze the contribution of the telecommunications industry to the economies Latin American countries and for this they were based on 12 countries that represent more than 93% of the GDP and 88% of the population of the continent.

In addition, the report reveals that the digital ecosystem (which includes broadcasting, television, computer services, manufacturing of equipment and terminal devices) represents 5.13% of the GDP of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico combined, that is, double that of the crude oil and gas extraction sector.

Some recommendations of public policies are also indicated so that the sector has greater impacts in the region that, basically, point to a reduction of taxes.

Among other things, they propose to reduce consumer taxes in the sector in order to be able to translate into indirect economic effects that generate greater economic activity and that the tax collection generated by this increase in economic activity is even greater.